jQuery Slider

You are here

The Gloves Come Off - by Christopher S. Johnson

Sergio Carranza, Bishop Assistant in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, is really tired of playing nice:

The Presiding Bishop called a special meeting of the House of Bishops last September to begin the reception of the Windsor Report which, I hasten to remind you, does not mandate or recommend the expulsion of the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion, as was expected and hoped for by our brothers and sisters who suffer from schismatic inclinations.

Those "brothers and sisters who suffer from schismatic inclinations" would be those of us who believe that the Bible means what it says and shouldn't be rewritten for purely political reasons.

Lest you are told by the detractors of our Church that the bishops failed to adopt the Report, or that they indeed accepted it, we must remember that our prelates do not have the power to act unilaterally for the whole Episcopal Church, since our polity vests that authority on the General Convention, where both the laity and the rest of the clergy are duly represented.

But when ECUSA wanted to give Robbie a pointy hat and allow same-sex marriages, a library full of GenCon resolutions suddenly didn't mean jack.  Then J. Jon Bruno's valet gets this Know Nothing blast in.

It will not be until the Summer of 2006 when General Convention will receive and act upon the recommendations of said report; meanwhile, Episcopalians should engage in the study, discussion and meditation of this important ecclesiological document about communion, because it proposes, perhaps unintentionally, a novel version of the Anglican Communion where the "bonds of affection" become confessional chains, and the "Primus inter pares" becomes a miniature Pope.

Which would suck, apparently.  Look how poorly the Roman Catholic Church is doing these days.  They've only been around for two grand and there's what?  Billions of 'em all over the world?  Whatever it is that liberal Episcopalians pray to knows we can't have that.  Carranza wasn't too happy about the recent meet-and-greet in Salt Lake City either.

I must readily admit that I was not very keen about this gathering, because I am weary of listening to a vociferous minority whine about the pain inflicted on them by the "revisionist" General Convention, and at the same time that they wail, to see them conspiring and networking to create a realignment of "orthodox" dioceses and parishes, and destroy the Episcopal Church.

Surdge?  As the engineers say, that's not a bug, that's a feature.  And what do you care anyway?  ECUSA abandoned serious Christianity when it wouldn't deep-six Pike and did nothing about Spongy.  See, some of us actually are Christians(happens sometimes since the government refuses to stop serious Christians like Billy Graham from buying television time) and we're not doing backflips over the fact that the church in which many of us were raised can be bought like a cheap LA hooker.  We're funny that way.  Then the BishAss, whose capacity for self-delusion is truly impressive, tries to blame the whole controversy on African imperialism:

I came back from the meeting with an uneasy feeling that still perturbs me. I feel that what we are trying to do is to placate some arrogant Primates of the Anglican Communion who want to humiliate, excoriate, and severely punish the Episcopal Church for its sin of embracing all of God's children.

Carranza blows the idea that ECUSA is taking the Windsor Report seriously into atoms:

The Report calls for expressions of regret, but these dignitaries demand repentance, which implies that the Episcopal Church would have to accept that what it did was wrong, and will never do the same again. Since when does the Church of Jesus Christ have to apologize for its prophetic acts?

When they're actually apostate acts?  Particularly arrogant and entirely political apostate acts that have no basis whatsoever in the Word of God?

In our honest efforts to be nice and to preserve the unity of the Communion,

Chortle.

I fear that we are erecting the primates' meeting as an idol. Idol worship is not only sinful, but dangerous, because it goes beyond bowing heads and offering incense; idols demand human sacrifices, they want blood. Are we willing and ready to offer certain of our brothers and sisters as a propitiatory sacrifice?

Translation: homosexuals give lots of money to the Diocese of Los Angeles.  And if you think we're going to throw away all that scratch just so some savages Africans will like us, you're nuts.  After all, we still have to sue those Nazis Klansmen Bush voters conservatives out of their meeting houses and lawyers aren't cheap.

We sincerely love and desire the unity of our Anglican Communion,

HAW, HAW, HAW, HEE, HEE HEE, stop it, Surdge, you're killing me, man!!

but for the sake of the Gospel we cannot accept the imposition of taboos alien to our culture;

First time I've ever seen a rich American liberal play that card.  It's those arrogant Africans, always going around imposing their culture on the rest of the world.

God knows we have enough of our own! We have to carry on the mission of the Church entrusted to us by its Lord and Master in our own social context, and at the same time, respect and try to understand the social, economic and political context where Anglicans in other parts of the world carry on the mission. Is it too much to ask for reciprocity? 

Why yes, actually, when you want to create an entirely new religion for the worst possible reason.

I actually admire and appreciate Carranza's candor.  This is what western liberal Anglicans actually think and it's refreshing to see one of them say it.  Of course, I'd respect it a lot more if LA would let its conservative parishes take their buildings and go in peace without bringing the courts into it.  But I guess that's too much to expect of liberal Episcopalians.  Because where LA's treasure is, there will its heart be also.

Subscribe
Get a bi-weekly summary of Anglican news from around the world.
comments powered by Disqus
Trinity School for Ministry
Go To Top